ARM Motherboards [Archive] - XtremeSystems Forums

jogshy

08-13-2011, 10:32 AM

I wonder.... how many interesting ARM/tegra desktop motherboards exist?
So far, I've collected from the news some ARM boards:

Panda board ( OMAP4430 dual-core 1Ghz, 1Gb DDR2, PoverVR SGX540 with OpenGL|ES 2, HDMI with audio and DVI, USB2, Ethernet 10/100, SD/MMC card reader ... but no SATA so you need to use the card reader :mad:)
http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5396/pandaboardv2.png
pandaboard.org (http://pandaboard.org)

Nufront NuSmart™ 2816 ( dual core A9 2Ghz, DDR2/3, SATA, USB2, Ethernet 10/100, VGA/HDMI, AC97 audio, SD/MMC reader ... I'm not really sure if this is a motherboard or a complete mini-PC ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gfs5ujSw1Q
http://www.nufront.com/en/cpzx/eed31e97-d916-4441-8aa1-6f6413a692f9155.html

TrimSlice ( complete PC, 1Ghz Tegra2, 1Gb DDR2, HDMI with 5.1 audio, SATA with room for a 2.5'' SSD, GigaEthernet, USB2 ):
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/9512/trimslice.jpg
( photo comparing its size vs a MacMini )
http://trimslice.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAi34Adn-dk

Ideally, I was looking for mini-ITX, uATX or ATX ARM motherboards with support for dual/quad core ARM CPUs, PCI-express 16X, SATA3, USB3 and capacity at least for 8Gb of DDR3 DIMM/SO-DIMM.... so I'm looking for a desktop board like the ones we use traditionally... but using ARM/Tegra instead of AMD/Intel CPUs. The idea is to plug a SSD and a cheap discrete GPU for a mini-ITX HTPC or small-and-efficient PC running Windows or Ardroid.

Do you know if Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, VIA, etc... are developing these kind of motherbards aimed to the desktop market, pls? I bet they're waiting for Windos RT to come ...

bamtan2

08-13-2011, 05:39 PM

you are jumping the gun. microsoft and its partners will announce windows 8 hardware when windows 8 is ready. all of it will be newer and better than this stuff. and most of it won't be desktop arm boxes. the arm stuff will be portable computers.

jogshy

08-13-2011, 05:55 PM

the arm stuff will be portable computers.
I hope almost some assembler like Asus could make a mini-ITX board so I can make a custom HTPC omg :p:

Btw, I've found this other one:

Raspberry PI, Broadcom BCM2835 700Mhz. 256Mb RAM, SD card, USB2.0, OpenGL|ES and HDMI, Debian/ARM Linux.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/

breakfromyou

08-13-2011, 07:00 PM

lizardmech

08-13-2011, 09:23 PM

I would rather put linux on these, I would probably buy an ARM motherboard if they were common, don't know why I would possibly want windows on it though.

s1nykuL

08-13-2011, 10:41 PM

I would rather put linux on these, I would probably buy an ARM motherboard if they were common, don't know why I would possibly want windows on it though.

Windows is generally for consumers, the users who don't care or want to care what the OS is doing in the background. Users who want everything taken care of and done automatically for them. This is by far the largest market for such devices. Linux is for the rest of us who want total control. I too would put Linux on such a system, infact if a device does not support Linux or some variant I don't want it.

bamtan2

08-13-2011, 10:41 PM

It would definitely be nice to have some Mini ITX boards around for some serious ARM power. Maybe even Micro ATX. I wonder how high they can push clock speeds in order to keep a reasonable TDP? Most of these ARM chips have a TDP of under 10w. What'd a 45w ARM CPU get you? I want one, whatever it might be lol.

you're years ahead of reality. arm chips today are aiming for 1W, not 10W. big difference. the only company even TALKING about high power ARM chips is nvidia, and that is just words and a powerpoint.

when windows 8 ships, the only ARM chips will be the ones in phones, and the only ARM apps will be phone apps. so who needs a phone chip on a PC board to run phone software? it doesn't make any sense. you've got a long wait ahead of you.

lizardmech

08-13-2011, 11:41 PM

Windows is generally for consumers, the users who don't care or want to care what the OS is doing in the background. Users who want everything taken care of and done automatically for them. This is by far the largest market for such devices. Linux is for the rest of us who want total control. I too would put Linux on such a system, infact if a device does not support Linux or some variant I don't want it.
Wont normal users be confused why their x86 programs don't work. MS can barely sort out the 32bit/64bit switch, I hate to imagine how an entirely different processor type will go.

undone

08-14-2011, 01:12 AM

ARM CORTEX A15 maybe arrived in 2012, according to some info dual core A15 is stronger than quad core A9, sincerely waiting this one to replace my old pc.

qcmadness

08-14-2011, 01:19 AM

It would definitely be nice to have some Mini ITX boards around for some serious ARM power. Maybe even Micro ATX. I wonder how high they can push clock speeds in order to keep a reasonable TDP? Most of these ARM chips have a TDP of under 10w. What'd a 45w ARM CPU get you? I want one, whatever it might be lol.

It would make a really nice media center box. Hardly using any power or using any heat, able to do everything an x86 box could do (that you'd need at least). Sounds like fun stuff is coming soon. I can't wait.

increase tdp 10 times will not yield 10x performance increase, most likely you will only get 2-4x. still slower than mid-range x86 cpus...

RVWinkle

08-14-2011, 07:18 AM

ARM CORTEX A15 maybe arrived in 2012, according to some info dual core A15 is stronger than quad core A9, sincerely waiting this one to replace my old pc.

I would say that by 2013 or 2014 we'll be buying a ton of these. I would have one connected to every TV as a HTPC, one for a NAS, and one for a firewall/gateway/proxy/DNS/whatever. Expect to see a resurgence in car computing too. These low power devices are great for home servers and secondary computing. These certainly won't replace my main desktop because by then we'll all be overclocking 8-10 cores to 6ghz.

jogshy

08-14-2011, 07:44 AM

I would rather put linux on these, I would probably buy an ARM motherboard if they were common, don't know why I would possibly want windows on it though.
Put the OS you prefer... but you cannot do that without a SATA port really... and most of the ARM motherboards I've seen use slow MMC cards yet :D

you're years ahead of reality. arm chips today are aiming for 1W, not 10W. big difference.
Well, one of the advantages of ARM is that their architecture is pretty modular and flexible. If the A9 uses 1W then put togheter 100 cores to get a 100W chip and see how it performs.

increase tdp 10 times will not yield 10x performance increase, most likely you will only get 2-4x. still slower than mid-range x86 cpus...
To run you must first walk :D I still remember my supercool 16Mhz 386 so imagine....

And just for the records... see Jobs 10 years ago .. think about future Apple's ARM-based laptops:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghdTqnYnFyg
( 3:01 :p )

FischOderAal

08-14-2011, 08:31 AM

I think we're seeing the beginning of this already. OS-X Lion has adapted some "behaviours" of iOS. For instance the scrolling is different. On touch-devices when you scroll down the page moves down, on OS-X Snow Leopard the page moves down when you scroll up. I hope you get what I mean.

Apple is beginning to unify the experience and one day desktop and mobile might merge completely. I think Microsoft is aware of this as well and is working on this. However, the approach is different. Microsoft wants a full desktop experience on their tablets.

masterg

08-14-2011, 06:12 PM

those panda boards have been out for years now

crash5s

08-15-2011, 05:45 AM

I would say that by 2013 or 2014 we'll be buying a ton of these. I would have one connected to every TV as a HTPC, one for a NAS, and one for a firewall/gateway/proxy/DNS/whatever. Expect to see a resurgence in car computing too. These low power devices are great for home servers and secondary computing. These certainly won't replace my main desktop because by then we'll all be overclocking 8-10 cores to 6ghz.

They are great for primary computing as well. As things stand a dual core is more than enough for most uses. Take away gaming (which is going to die on the PC anyways), 3d animation and heavy video editing... things almost nobody does on their computer, and there is no need for the power we have now.

Smaller form factors, less power is the future. Power hungry large boxes can go the way of the typewriter.

saaya

08-15-2011, 07:38 AM

theres almost no hardware to install, almost everything is onboard for arm, so its not really a mainboard... is it? :D

jogshy

10-11-2011, 09:06 PM

Today Canonical will release Ubuntu 11.10 with some ARM support ( I think OMAP3 and 4 ). I wonder which ARM laptops, desktop and server computers will support it... maybe Acer AspireOnes/Asus EEEPCs and some servers like the ZT-systems R1801e ( http://www.ztsystems.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1483 ) or the Excito B3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlEEbQ9WmQ4

Btw, I've found another small ARM-based PC, the Genesi EFIKA MX Smarttop:
http://i51.tinypic.com/fxe92a.png
( ARM Cortex-A8 800MHz, 3D graphics with HDMI, 512MB RAM, 8Gb SSD, 100Mbut ethernet, usb2.0 )
http://www.genesi-usa.com/products/efika

jogshy

05-14-2012, 02:53 PM

Another mini-PC:
FXI Technologies Cotton Candy (http://www.fxitech.com/products/), based on Samsung Exinos 4210 ( dual Cortex A9 1,2Ghz ) + Mali 400 GPU, 1Gb RAM, USB2.0, running Ubuntu and Android:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJInXp0ijNw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtbGTxxGs2k

kuroikenshi

05-14-2012, 02:59 PM

Thank you! Super Lopez!

now that's neat!

jogshy

05-14-2012, 03:04 PM

Apparently, another interesting ARM-based mini-PC appeared:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120508005668/en/Devon-Launches-ARM-based-FX1-Thin-Client-Sub-200

DevonIT FX1, based on Texas Instrument's 1GHz DM8148 CPU.
( their web's down actually ).

zanzabar

05-14-2012, 03:43 PM

TI parts are not compatible with windows mobile, windows phone or windows ce 7 (aka windows 8 arm), it looks interesting though.

Kai Robinson

05-21-2012, 06:06 AM

Hate to break it to you, but the Raspberry Pi has nothing to do with Windows 8, and with 128mb of useable memory (128mb allocated to GPU), it never will.

mstp2009

05-21-2012, 03:20 PM

Windows 8 = FAIL
Windows 8 on ARM = EPIC FAIL

BeepBeep2

05-21-2012, 03:24 PM

No, Windows 8 x86 is fail...Win 8 ARM is probably win.

kuroikenshi

05-21-2012, 03:41 PM

^^ although there wont be much support from other software partners initially I firmly believe that Microsoft is realised that they need to join this trend transition. However I also believe that their licensing prices need to come down for the ARM platform, otherwise they will be at a disadvantage when dealing with competitors who give their OS for free or as part of the device (i.e. Android and IOS)

alpha0ne

05-21-2012, 11:18 PM

zanzabar

05-21-2012, 11:31 PM

I just cant imagine MS every reducing their prices.............every $ counts :rolleyes:

CE licensing is cheap, it is a less than $2 a device, most of the OS cost is from patent licensing as that brings the software cost to nearly $20 (something that non commercial use dose not have to deal with.)

MS also sells only a small few % of licenses to consumers but to be a consumer windows is $100-120 but for a large OEM like dell, acer, hp it's around $25-30 (or less) for windows 7

kuroikenshi

05-22-2012, 01:53 AM

^^ Dbl post

Mats

05-22-2012, 03:33 AM

This thread is a total fail.

- It's called Windows RT. Windows 8 is for x86 CPU's. "ARM Motherboards for Windows 8" is just wrong.

- What's the point in running Windows RT if you can't use Windows NT programs? None? Or you want Metro soo bad? You might as well use Linux (I'm not even a Linux fanboy).

- Have you seen the hardware requirements? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_RT.

- You can't buy RT.

Windows RT is the newest member of the Windows family – also known as Windows on ARM or WOA, as we’ve referred to it previously. This single edition will only be available pre-installed on PCs and tablets powered by ARM processors and will help enable new thin and lightweight form factors with impressive battery life.
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx

Lanek

05-22-2012, 07:05 AM

Mat is right anyway ..

http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2246

Do you know this little thing ? It is made for wire on the TV specially ... ARM 1.5ghz A8, GPU AMD Z430, working with Android 4.0 ICS, 512Mb of DDr3, 4go of internal memory, extendable with SD card, Wifi G (not n )... Its not what i will call a mini pc.... ( we are far of it )

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/236/androidtvz8022.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/687/androidtvz8022.jpg/)

jogshy

05-22-2012, 09:07 AM

Nice one, Lanek!

I found another interesting ultra-low cost 49$ board:

WonderMedia WM8750 ARM11 800Mhz, DDR3 512MB Memory, 2GB NAND Flash, HDMI/VGA with OpenGL|ES 2.0/H264 hw video acceleration, USB 2.0, Ethernet 10/100, microSD card, Android 2.3, neo-ITX form factor.
http://i45.tinypic.com/20zzmtz.jpg

More info at http://apc.io

The Coolest

05-22-2012, 09:54 AM

http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/via-launch-a-49-android-pc-20120522/
It is ARM11 based.

spicypixel

05-22-2012, 10:08 AM

None of these will ever run Win8 though :(

Sparky

05-22-2012, 10:40 AM

They are great for primary computing as well. As things stand a dual core is more than enough for most uses. Take away gaming (which is going to die on the PC anyways), 3d animation and heavy video editing... things almost nobody does on their computer, and there is no need for the power we have now.

Smaller form factors, less power is the future. Power hungry large boxes can go the way of the typewriter.

Speak for yourself...

DeathReborn

05-22-2012, 12:30 PM

http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/via-launch-a-49-android-pc-20120522/
It is ARM11 based.

When I first saw the headline I thought it would be Nano X2 1.2GHz+ based SoC & go the Intel route with x86 Android/Win8.

alpha0ne

05-23-2012, 12:42 AM

http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/via-launch-a-49-android-pc-20120522/
It is ARM11 based.

Thanks for the linkage....................ordered ;)

kuroikenshi

05-23-2012, 02:34 AM

^^ I am waiting for boards to have some more grunt, then and only I will begin to purchase them for side projects such complete EV conversion of my JZA80 supra, (with the upcoming technology it would definitely compliment the vehicle's features with a full integrated low power system other than windows)

I was going to use windows and micro pc, but windows interface is poop for touch screens. and I aint holding my breath for windows RT.

jogshy

07-13-2012, 10:58 AM

Kontron KTT30/mITX motherboard: ARM Cortex-A9 Quad Core 900MHz (1-7W), up to 2Gb of DDR3L, HDMI, mPCI express, SD/eMMC card, Ethernet 10/100/1000, USB2.0, RS232, Audio I/O, miniITX form factor.
http://emea.kontron.com/products/boards+and+mezzanines/embedded+motherboards/miniitx+motherboards/ktt30mitx.html

jogshy

07-13-2012, 11:06 AM

Another one, the ODROID-X:

Samsung Exynos4412 Cortex-A9 Quad Core 1.4Ghz with 1MB L2 cache, 1Gb of DDR2-800, Mali 400-MP GPU, HDMI, Audio I/O, USB 2.0, SD/mmc card, currently Android 4.0.4/Ubuntu 12.04, 129$$
128351
http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G133999328931

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-Mn7mqzOR4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DWnwMZxIW0

I just hope to start seeing A15s with >2Gb DDR3 and USB3/SATA soon...

jogshy

07-24-2012, 07:45 AM

Via VAB-800, 800MHz or 1GHz Freescale Cortex-A8 SoC, 4x USB2, Mini HDMI/VGA, 1Gb DDR3, 64Gb flash onboard, SATA, HD audio, Pico-ITX form factor
128703

http://www.viaembedded.com/en/products/boards/1930/1/VAB-800.html

jogshy

10-16-2012, 05:23 AM

Another very good one, the Bounday Devices Nitrogen6X:

1Ghz quad core, 1Gb DDR3-1066, SATA, HDMI, dual SDHC card support, mini-PCI Express, GigaLAN, 3x USB, Android/Ubuntu.

130649

199$, starts to sell on 11/1/2012.

http://boundarydevices.com/products/nitrogen6x-board-imx6-arm-cortex-a9-sbc/

El Mano

10-16-2012, 01:02 PM

Thanks for keeping us updated Jogshy :)

BrokenWall

10-16-2012, 02:40 PM

@Jogshy

First off I own a Raspberry Pi and I enjoy it, its my media device in the living room for streaming content, best part is that its plugged into the USB port on my LG TV and when you turn on the TV it powers up a slim version of the Debian Hard Floating Point build for Raspberry Pi and loads XBMC and streams media fine from the network with no problems. It's no desktop device and it was designed as an idea to get kids into programming as a cheap throw away purchase that's not to expensive. And its great for other countries around the world.

The Pandaboard and ODROID-X are development platforms designed for Android programmers and other DIYer to build linux/android based devices for fun or professional use. I have even see the ability to use these types of boards for building very nice Car-PCs that run Ubuntu/Android to provide an even more intense in dash head-unit, mixed with an AMP you have everything you need.

ARM is not a desktop platform and will never be a desktop platform. The reason Windows 8 RT is even around is because Microsoft knows that AMD/Intel have no shot in the near future of providing something that is as powerful yet as mobile as what ARM Provides for mobile use and battery life. The idea is Windows Phone 8 is out which runs on ARM, and you have Windows 8 on your PC, why not compete with the iPad and Android Tablets and give you a full Windows 8 environment for your Tablet as well. Windows 8 RT will not be purchasable by a consumer, just like you are unable to purchase Windows Phone 7/8 right now unless your OEM making a phone.

The Android PC by VIA for $49 was out to compete or give another option to the people who may be interested in the Rasberry Pi

=========
Most of the items posted in this thread are available for DIY, Geeking out, Development, and even embedded uses. I would love to buy a Pandaboard myself since you can run the ChromeOS and use it as an Android based HTPC with proper Netflix, Youtube, Amazon, Pandora, Android Games, etc. Some of the other options mentioned that have cases are developed as Thin Clients for enterprise environments, it runs a very slim version of Windows CE/Embedded or Linux and allows the use to use either VMWare VDI/Citrix/RDP to get to a session on a server for what they need. These are great for kiosk or what I enjoy them for is remote offices that are out of reach, they are simple to troubleshoot since everything is in a virtual environment in your server farm.

kl0012

10-16-2012, 03:05 PM

The reason Windows 8 RT is even around is because Microsoft knows that AMD/Intel have no shot in the near future of providing something that is as powerful yet as mobile as what ARM Provides for mobile use and battery life.

Hmm... Did you see latest Anand's iphon5 review? It also has benchmarks of RAZR i (Medfield based). Check it out:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review/10

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph6330/50961.png

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/smartphones/apple/iPhone5/review/krakenmedfieldsm.png

jogshy

10-18-2012, 07:42 PM

ARM is not a desktop platform and will never be a desktop platform.
Currently, it's not, I agree with you ... but:
1. There are rumors that Apple is investigating to use ARM cpus for their Macs/laptops.
2. NVIDIA is developing Denver/Boulder. We might see a 100W APU soon !
3. Wait and see the new Cortex-A15 and Tegra 4 dev boards !

edit:
4. Today AMD anounced they're licensing ARM to make a server super-SoC. That's only the start ofc.
5. ARM just anounced Cortex A-50/55/57 ARMv8 64bits ...

MavT

10-19-2012, 02:47 AM

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/18/3521492/google-new-samsung-chromebook-249-monday

Lanek

10-19-2012, 03:20 AM

If i was a little bit on the bad mood, i will say " ARM based Chromebook " .. Looking all software dont run natively on the OS, but are web based (even if they can be used offline a little bit ) . Chromebook are a bit in another category. But im clearly waiting to see what can bring this Equinox 5 for smartphone tablets.

Clint

10-20-2012, 01:49 AM

Kontron KTT30/mITX motherboard: ARM Cortex-A9 Quad Core 900MHz (1-7W), up to 2Gb of DDR3L, HDMI, mPCI express, SD/eMMC card, Ethernet 10/100/1000 USB2.0, RS232, Audio I/O, miniITX form factor.
http://emea.kontron.com/products/boards+and+mezzanines/embedded+motherboards/miniitx+motherboards/ktt30mitx.html

Fixed it!:up:

EniGmA1987

10-20-2012, 08:59 AM

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/18/3521492/google-new-samsung-chromebook-249-monday

Too bad they dont have a 1080p resolution screen available, even if it costs a bit more. Using 1366x768 on anything higher than a 10" screen is too low res for modern times.

jogshy

10-27-2012, 11:02 AM

First dev A15 board:

Cortex-A15 (Samsung Exynos 5) built in 32nm HKMG, 1.7 GHz dual core with SIMD NEON, Mali T-604 GPU with 1080p hw-accelerated VP8 Decoder/DX11/OpenCL 1.1/OpenGL|ES 1/2/3 , HDMI 1.4 stereoscopic, 2Gb of dual channel DDR3L-800, SATA III(6Gbps), USB 2/3, Ethernet 100Mbps(not 1Gbps :mad:), eMMC/microSD card support, 24bits HD audio, WIFI and GPS/Diplay panel option, Android 4.1.1

130939

249$ .

http://www.arndaleboard.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

But I want a 2Ghz quad core, 4Gb DDR3 RAM, SATA3/USB3, Ethernet 1Gbps, Mali T678/SGX6 sub 200$ board supporting Ubuntu 12.10 to be completely happy :)

BrowncoatGR

10-27-2012, 11:38 AM

First dev A15 board:

Cortex-A15 (64bits Samsung Exynos 5) , 1.7 GHz dual core with SIMD NEON, Mali T-604 GPU with 1080p hw-accelerated VP8 Decoder/DX11/OpenCL 1.1/OpenGL|ES 1/2/3 , HDMI 1.4 stereoscopic, 2Gb of dual channel DDR3L-800, SATA III(6Gbps), USB 2/3, Ethernet 100Mbps, eMMC/microSD card support, 24bits HD audio, WIFI and GPS, Android 4.1.1

249$ .

http://www.arndaleboard.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

But I want a 4Gb+ DDR3, 2Ghz+ quad core, SATA3/USB3, Ethernet 1Gbps, Mali T678/SGX6 and Ubuntu support to be completely happy :)
A15 is still ARMv7, so it's not 64bit. It's supposed to be significantly faster than A9 though. Besides AArch64 support is still a WIP, at least on Gnu/Linux. That board does look sweet but i'm guessing getting drivers for anything other than Android might be an issue.

EniGmA1987

10-27-2012, 11:46 AM

If someone were to buy that, does it come with Android on it already? Or does source need to be compiled first and installed onto the board to get it running?

jogshy

10-27-2012, 12:05 PM

A15 is still ARMv7, so it's not 64bit.
Oooopz, you're right. Edited.

If someone were to buy that, does it come with Android on it already? Or does source need to be compiled first and installed onto the board to get it running?
I think it comes with Android 4.1.1 into a flash chip near the eMMC although they mention in their Wiki you can compile it manually:
http://www.arndaleboard.org/wiki/index.php/WiKi

s0lid

10-28-2012, 03:07 AM

But I want a 2Ghz quad core, 4Gb DDR3 RAM, SATA3/USB3, Ethernet 1Gbps, Mali T678/SGX6 sub 200$ board supporting Ubuntu 12.10 to be completely happy :)

Well the thing is that most of these are just Development boards, not full ARM motherboards to be used in daily use.
And it's the memory that costs alot in these boards, when you can only use 1-2 memory chips the costs are high. 8Gb(1GB) memory chip alone costs 40e at digikey.
Also most of the ARM cpus lack ethernet controller/ethernet PHY so they have to rely on USB to USB hub + 100mbps ethernet controller chips.

jogshy

10-29-2012, 04:46 PM

And it's the memory that costs alot in these boards, when you can only use 1-2 memory chips the costs are high. 8Gb(1GB) memory chip alone costs 40e at digikey.

They should put there 2 SO-DIMM and let the user to buy cheap DDR3 :)

Also most of the ARM cpus lack ethernet controller/ethernet PHY so they have to rely on USB to USB hub + 100mbps ethernet controller chips.
But how much can cost those chips? Asmedia A1704 12$, Marvel Yukon 15$ for 1000 units ... :D

Anyways, new SoCs like Samsung Exynos 5 supports USB 3.0, SATA3 and dual-channel DDR3... it's soooo awesome omg !
http://www.nordichardware.com/news/69-cpu-chipset/46379-exynos-5-dual-supports-usb-30-sata-iii-and-stereoscopic-3d.html

I would never understand why Asus, Gigabyte or MSI still haven't made a board with it ...

And, btw, today NVIDIA anounced Tegra 4 will be presented at CES 2013, January 1-8. I hope it could support USB3/SATA3 too.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/NVIDIA-Tegra-4-Set-for-CES-2013-Launch-in-January-302730.shtml

jogshy

10-30-2012, 05:05 PM

Omg...

Cortex-A50/55/57 ARMv8 64bits anounced FINALLY !

http://www.arm.com/about/newsroom/arm-launches-cortex-a50-series-the-worlds-most-energy-efficient-64-bit-processors.php

Now Intel is in serious troubles ... the Cortex A-57 supports 16 cores running at 3Ghz ...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6420/arms-cortex-a57-and-cortex-a53-the-first-64bit-armv8-cpu-cores

jogshy

04-15-2013, 07:41 AM

New toy:

http://oi48.tinypic.com/2uscz06.jpg
http://oi47.tinypic.com/2v13e6f.jpg

SECO mITX GPU DEVKIT
NVIDIA Tegra 3 (T30) ARM Cortex A9 Quad-Core 1.3Ghz
GeForce ULP embedded graphics ( with no CUDA support :mad: )
1x PCIe x4 Gen1 link ( where you can plug a GPU with CUDA support :) )
2Gb RAM DDR3L
Mini-ITX form factor
1x SATA II
Support for MMC cards + 4Gb included
HDMI 1.4a
1x Gigabit Ethernet
HD Audio Interface
3x USB2
Ubuntu OS.
Price: 349 euros.

More info at
http://shop.seco.com/gpudevkit/gpudevkit-detail.html
http://www.seco.com/en/item/quadmo747-x_t30/

mattkosem

04-16-2013, 03:18 PM

DeathReborn

04-17-2013, 02:46 AM

You'd have to be crazy, or have a very Tegra-specific need, for it to make any sense to buy this. Talk about late release! I was waiting for that thing over a year ago, but the next gen stuff is just around the corner now.

--Matt

The chief idea behind that board is App & CUDA developers so they can develop for current & future products (chuck a 610/620 on there...). It would be better with Tegra 4/4i on board but some small developers would love that board, big developers have had similar boards for over a year so better late than never.

mattkosem

04-17-2013, 01:29 PM

The chief idea behind that board is App & CUDA developers so they can develop for current & future products (chuck a 610/620 on there...). It would be better with Tegra 4/4i on board but some small developers would love that board, big developers have had similar boards for over a year so better late than never.

I'd consider that a very Tegra-specific need. I don't think the 610/620 is supported though. I'd also bet this board will never run Windows 8.

An A15-based solution would make more sense for any non-tegra-specific ARM needs these days. There are plenty to choose from, many quite a bit cheaper than this.

I still have my Tegra2 dev board kicking here, but it doesn't see much use these days now that I have an Arndale board.

--Matt

DeathReborn

04-18-2013, 05:46 AM

I'd consider that a very Tegra-specific need. I don't think the 610/620 is supported though. I'd also bet this board will never run Windows 8.

An A15-based solution would make more sense for any non-tegra-specific ARM needs these days. There are plenty to choose from, many quite a bit cheaper than this.

I still have my Tegra2 dev board kicking here, but it doesn't see much use these days now that I have an Arndale board.

--Matt

The SECO mITX GPU DEVKIT does support Kepler GPU's as it is a Kayla Platform. With a Kepler based GPU developers can get an early look at Kepler+ARM ahead of Tegra 5. It is very specific but hopefully will mean more apps/games can take advantage of the chip sooner after it's launch in 2014. Maybe they will release a Tegra 4 based board later in the year, in fact I hope they do as I would like to get my hands on one.

jogshy

04-18-2013, 10:21 AM

A thing I really like about the The SECO mITX GPU DEVKIT is that it has a PCI-Express slot... so you could plug there a GeForce or whatever you want.

These boards are still too expensive and lack some functionality... but I hope to see a 8/16 cores board running Android/Ubuntu/RT with full OpenCL/OpenGL acceleration and SATA3/USB3/PCI2or3 soon :)

What I cannot understand is why an IHV does not get those amazing Snapdragon 600s to make a decent board :p:

DeathReborn

04-18-2013, 03:06 PM

mattkosem

04-18-2013, 03:22 PM

The SECO mITX GPU DEVKIT does support Kepler GPU's as it is a Kayla Platform. With a Kepler based GPU developers can get an early look at Kepler+ARM ahead of Tegra 5. It is very specific but hopefully will mean more apps/games can take advantage of the chip sooner after it's launch in 2014. Maybe they will release a Tegra 4 based board later in the year, in fact I hope they do as I would like to get my hands on one.

Interesting. Where did you read that? I was under the impression that it only supported very specific quadro models, and only for compute (cuda) use.

--Matt

DeathReborn

04-19-2013, 11:34 AM

Interesting. Where did you read that? I was under the impression that it only supported very specific quadro models, and only for compute (cuda) use.

--Matt

Everywhere you see Kayla it mentions Kepler but not Quadro or GeForce. I suspect it will be more down to the OS chosen that limits your choice. The CARMA board (the one with MXM module) is the older CUDA platform that includes a Quadro (Fermi).

Both are based on the SECOCQ7-mITX2.0 Carrier Board (http://www.seco.com/en/item/secocq7-mitx2_0/) and you can get that and a Qseven/μQSeven Rel 2.0 Atom board instead of Tegra, or any of the other ARM boards. I suspect a Tegra 4/4i board will be made later this year so it would be a simple case of removing the Tegra 3 & slotting in the Tegra 4/4i.

jogshy

06-09-2013, 09:39 AM

Another toy, S4-based!

http://oi43.tinypic.com/zbyat.jpg

Inforce IFC6410

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J_wHSJN6VE

Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 (A15-based) with Adreno 320 graphics(OpenGL ES 3.0, 2.0 & 1.1, OpenCL 1.2, OpenVG 1.1, EGL 1.4, Direct3D feature level 9_3, SVGT 1.2, Direct Draw and GDI)
Krait CPU, 4-core, 1.7 GHz, 2MB L2 cache
2 GB on-board DDR3 (PCDDR 533MHz)
μSD card connector
eMMC 4GB
External SATA
2x USB 2.0 ports
μHDMI for HD1080p
LVDS
Supports up to a 20MP Camera MIPI-CSI2
HD Audio and Mic-in
Standard I/O interfaces including GbE, I2C, SPI, UART, UIM, GPIOs, etc. and on-board Serial Console
PicoITX format
Android/Linux support
$149

More info at
http://www.inforcecomputing.com/product/moreinfo/ifc6410.html

jogshy

07-20-2013, 02:30 PM

Here we, go, another one:

http://oi40.tinypic.com/2mfgoly.jpg
http://oi44.tinypic.com/sdnq60.jpg

Utilie computer:

Freescale i.MX6 quad core Cortex-A9 MPCore, up to 1.2GHz
4GB DDR3-1066
mSATA SSD, up to 512GB
Micro-SD SDXC, up to 128GB
Graphics Processing Unit supporting OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0, OpenVG 1.1 and OpenCL EP
Video Processing Unit supporting multi-stream 1080p H.264, VC1, RV10, DivX HW decoding
HDMI 1.4 up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60Hz
DVI-D up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60Hz
Two 1000 BaseT Ethernet ports
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, single antenna
Bluetooth 3.0
S/PDIF 5.1 (electrical through 3.5mm jack)
Stereo line-out, Stereo line-in
4 USB 2.0 standard A type – max current 1A per port
5.3″ x 3.9″ x 0.8″
135mm x 100mm x 21mm
3W – 8W (depending on system configuration and load)
OS: Ubuntu/Android

Price: 99$

More info at http://utilite-computer.com/web/home

jogshy

08-05-2013, 10:06 AM

Another good one, the Hardkernel's Odroid-XU:

http://oi44.tinypic.com/ab35ud.jpg
http://oi43.tinypic.com/33075hx.jpg

The world’s first big.LITTLE architecture based bare-board computer.
• Exynos5 Octa Cortex™-A15 1.6Ghz quad core and Cortex™-A7 quad core CPUs
• PowerVR SGX544MP3 GPU (OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL ES 1.1 and OpenCL 1.1 EP)
• 2Gbyte LPDDR3 RAM PoP
• USB 3.0 Host x 1, USB 3.0 OTG x 1, USB 2.0 Host x 4
• HDMI 1.4a output Type-D connector
• eMMC 4.5 Flash Storage
• 10/100 Ethernet ( Gigabit LAN available using USB3 dongle )

OS: Android 4.2.2, Ubuntu 13.04 in development
Price: 149$

Some videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_OE-dG3-ps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk6Nvqg6aCs

More info at http://hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G137510300620

mattkosem

08-05-2013, 05:55 PM

That's a hot piece of kit there! Might need to pick one up. Someone should relabel this thread though, since it's pretty likely none of these parts will ever run windows 8.

--Matt

jogshy

08-13-2013, 01:19 PM

Someone should relabel this thread though, since it's pretty likely none of these parts will ever run windows 8.
Yep, I wanted to rename it but cannot change the main thread's name 8(
Pls, some admin change it just to "ARM motherboards" :p

Evantaur

08-13-2013, 03:51 PM

should get more interesting when ARM opterons are out

jogshy

08-19-2013, 01:05 PM

should get more interesting when ARM opterons are out
Yep, but I wonder if M$ is porting the Win32-desktop mode to ARM ... cuz Metro sucks.
I simply cannot imagine admin tools like the Windows's Service Manager or the SQL server's UI frontend or workstation apps like Photoshop, 3dsmax, Maya, etc... running in Metro's 400x400 pixels buttons style :rofl:

Anyways, I'm excited cuz it's rumoured that iPad 5 gonna use a 8 cores, 64bits A-57 with Imagination's Rogue6 IGP ... which can be a serious computing monster :eek:

kuroikenshi

08-19-2013, 02:53 PM

I wonder if that can be done easily, since its more than a recompile.

after all windows is written to operate on CISC based processors, they'd almost have to change the entire instruction set in order to make it work on ARM, look at windows RT, it misses a whole lot of features present in win8 and its predecessors.

safan80

08-19-2013, 02:55 PM

I'd like to see a board with a 64bit Exynos and a few pci-e slots. I'm interested to see what AMD opteron ARMs going to do.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/18/amd_opteron_arm_server_chips/

It would be nice to see windows RT being sold like windows 8 (without being in a system).

Fottemberg

08-19-2013, 10:34 PM

Just for fun. :)

http://www.inpai.com.cn/doc/hard/198143.htm

stuffme

10-14-2013, 06:23 AM

mattkosem

10-14-2013, 02:48 PM

I wonder why any of these SBC manufacturers don't make dual or quad core a9/a15 arm based boards with 4, 6 and 8 sata port configurations? I guess they don't seems to realize how big market they are missing out? All those DIY NAS builders out there waiting for truly low power light weight NAS solution.

I'm right there with ya on that. I think it has (mostly) to do with the available connectivity options on most of the available SOCs. Most of them don't have PCIE, and the ones that do usually have a tiny number of lanes and/or crappy slow CPUs. USB is the most you get in most cases and, until recently it was 2.0 spec. And, to make matters worse, the very same USB controller that powers the ports is also home to the Ethernet controller and other stuff.

Once we start getting SOCs (and, more excitingly, non-SOCs) that aren't targeted at phones the market should really open up.

--Matt

lizardmech

10-14-2013, 07:16 PM

I like my odrioid-xu, replaced an old desktop with it and it's nice and fast even with a full linux desktop. I just wish could work out how to overclock it, I'm not experienced enough at making custom kernels.
131544

kuroikenshi

10-14-2013, 07:35 PM

have you got probe heat readings with that heatsink on?

that bad boy should be able to allow 2.00Ghz,

maybe the boys over at XDA have already have a kernel to suit exynos 5 Octa that would require little mod to none to get the desired result.

**edit, otherwise you can do some hard mods at the back of the pc, since there is an Overvolt module you might be able to tap into.

Maybe vince kingping might be able to help, if you can get him to give you some of his precious time that is.

lizardmech

10-14-2013, 08:01 PM

Cooling isn't that great due to PoP chip design, having a ram module between the die and heatsink is like intel haswell TIM. With air cooling you can never get much bellow 70c under load. You need an odroid specific kernel to boot linux so I would have to build that one rather than using one from XDA. I actually found a voltage and clockspeed table in the kernel sources but I don't understand how these SoCs generate their clock speed and if it has to be multiples of 200mhz etc.

kuroikenshi

10-14-2013, 11:13 PM

have you tried running android 4.xx on it?

lizardmech

10-14-2013, 11:22 PM

have you tried running android 4.xx on it?

Yeah it runs both linux and android 4.2, android overclocking programs still appear to rely on the kernel for selecting clockspeeds though.

stuffme

10-15-2013, 01:07 AM

I have also been looking into HTPC with these SBC boards, but the only thing that is stopping me to jump in is that you cannot calibrate your colors with i1display pro colorimeter. Even though you can install linux one of these arm soc boards, you need the software to support those architectures also. :( I guess I'll have to x86 one more time and buy haswell or baytrail basec NUc or something. :down:

Would be nice to be able to watch 1080p mkv videos only like 2w power consumption. Now you are limited to x86 and the lowest you can do is like 30w.

kl0012

10-15-2013, 07:05 PM

Would be nice to be able to watch 1080p mkv videos only like 2w power consumption. Now you are limited to x86 and the lowest you can do is like 30w.

Not sure where you get these numbers from? Haswell NUC consumes under 25W at full load (I guess it would be ~10W for video). Baytrail should consume much less. But with Gen8 graphics you're getting proper 24p frame rate, good postprocessing features and hardware encoder (not sure if these features are available with arm chips)
http://missingremote.com/review/intel-nuc-kit-d54250wyk

mattkosem

10-16-2013, 11:31 AM

I have also been looking into HTPC with these SBC boards, but the only thing that is stopping me to jump in is that you cannot calibrate your colors with i1display pro colorimeter. Even though you can install linux one of these arm soc boards, you need the software to support those architectures also.

I see at least one open source Linux app that supports that hardware. Using it in arm Linux is just a compile away. I even see arm packages for it on some distros.

http://dispcalgui.hoech.net

--Matt

jogshy

01-29-2014, 01:47 AM

AMD's Opteron A1100 8-core ARM A57 is almost ready ... :)

http://oi59.tinypic.com/1zwyw4g.jpg
http://oi59.tinypic.com/vpx6wz.jpg

Now waiting for Tegra K1 devkit :p:

http://oi59.tinypic.com/dw718p.jpg

A step forward to my 100W 64-core 5Ghz / 5TFLOPS+ APU desktop dream :D

bearcatrp

01-29-2014, 05:05 PM

I'll wait for the dual or quad socket boards to come out with a 16 core per chip. Need a new cruncher. :yepp:

naokaji

01-29-2014, 05:53 PM

AMD's Opteron A1100 8-core ARM A57 is almost ready ... :)

Looks like the perfect basis for a homebuilt NAS...

mattkosem

01-29-2014, 07:24 PM

AMD's Opteron A1100 8-core ARM A57 is almost ready ... :)

Woot! Can't wait!

jogshy

03-25-2014, 10:47 PM

NEOAethyr

03-25-2014, 11:10 PM

@jogshy
Not bad, a good find there :up:.

Not perfect though, could use more usb ports, scrap the vga and the internal connectors.
Needs 2x micro sd cards.
Otherwise it's pretty nice looking, that tegra chip is awesome.

Peeps are saying it's a 5w tdp for that chip.
That is the chip I want in my phone lol :D.

lizardmech

03-29-2014, 06:13 AM

Tegra K1 devboard available for only 192$ !

Tegra K1 Quad Core A15 SoC with 192 Kepler GPU cores, 2Gb DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA, eMMC/SD card, mini-PCIE, GigaLAN, audio.
Runs Ubuntu Linux, OpenGL 4.4, CUDA 6:

http://oi57.tinypic.com/167p846.jpg

https://developer.nvidia.com/jetson-tk1

This looks quite good, a shame they went with 2gb of ram though, that's the biggest limitation I have with my odriod-xu. Can you boot these with a generic kernel or does it need a special tegra one?

jogshy

03-29-2014, 10:47 PM

Yep, I couldn't live with only 2Gb ... but probably the Denver dual-core 64bits version is on the way soon with 4Gb, according to this:

http://oi60.tinypic.com/173e5c.jpg

and, yep, I think it uses a specially-optimized kernel:

https://developer.nvidia.com/linux-tegra-rel-19

NVIDIA should make a desktop 100W version of that asap :D

Andrew LB

04-03-2014, 01:37 AM

You all new this was coming.. and here it is! A water cooled Pico-Itx system!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/Langer/PrometheusCu/prometheus-pico-wc-mount15.jpg

alpha0ne

04-04-2014, 12:20 AM

^ VERY Sexy !!

Darakian

04-05-2014, 12:29 AM

So, which board is that? +1 to the sexy :)

mattkosem

04-05-2014, 09:01 AM

Looks like an VIA EPIA PX-10000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pico-ITX#EPIA_PX). Interesting project, but not sure it has anything to do with arm boards.

--Matt

jogshy

04-06-2014, 10:25 PM

Does really need an ARM Soc to be watercooled? :D

alpha0ne

04-06-2014, 11:03 PM

Does really need an ARM Soc to be watercooled? :D

Since when has 'need' ever come into the equation @ XS :rofl:

mattkosem

04-07-2014, 06:21 AM

Does really need an ARM Soc to be watercooled? :D

It's not an ARM board as far as I can tell. I guess only time will tell, though.

--Matt

jogshy

06-04-2014, 04:50 PM

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaammmm! Cavium's ThunderX 48-core ARM 64bits SoC 28nm at 2.5Ghz , PCI-Express 3.0, DDR3/DDR4 memory ! :eek:

http://www.cavium.com/ThunderX_ARM_Processors.html

Do want ! :shocked:

bearcatrp

06-05-2014, 04:16 AM

Never heard of this company before. Been waiting on a dually board for ARM. Hoping AMD does this soon on there new 64 bit ARM processores.

lizardmech

06-06-2014, 05:41 AM

These 48 core chips might be interesting for 3d rendering if they are cheap enough, gigabyte seem to be a partner and said they will have server + mini itx boards.

jogshy

06-07-2014, 10:27 AM

These 48 core chips might be interesting for 3d rendering if they are cheap enough, gigabyte seem to be a partner and said they will have server + mini itx boards.
Correct ! Say ... cheese ! :D

http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/cavium%20thunderx-578-80.jpg

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/servers/gigabyte-to-use-cavium-for-its-arm-based-server-platforms-1252069

http://community.arm.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-3293-8390/Cavium+ThunderX+board.png

http://d3tfy4hr89jjx0.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/images/6001%20Cavium-boards.png

http://www.ithome.com.tw/news/88347

jogshy

07-01-2014, 07:23 PM

Here is a video of the ThundeX boards by Armdevices.net

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmnjZUQPq5U

Thraxis

07-01-2014, 10:09 PM

Darakian

07-01-2014, 10:34 PM

Here is a video of the ThundeX boards by Armdevices.net

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmnjZUQPq5U
Awesome find! Many thanks :up:

jogshy

07-02-2014, 08:17 AM

Sorry, just lightly browsing so don't know if I skipped over it. Is there a price tag for these yet? And if so, anyone experience in crunching/folding with ARM chips? Wondering if something like this would be worth it in the future.
AFAIK, no price announced yet. No idea about folding on ARM, sorry.
I think I've seen a PCI3 slot in the video, I'm not sure, but that MicroATX board will be very interesting if it supports a GPU, yep.

NKrader

07-02-2014, 09:37 AM

AFAIK, no price announced yet. No idea about folding on ARM, sorry.
I think I've seen a PCI3 slot in the video, I'm not sure, but that MicroATX board will be very interesting if it supports a GPU, yep.

Why a gpu?
I just want the dual one with no gpu to crunch

jogshy

07-02-2014, 03:26 PM

Here is another board, directly by ARM Holdings. It is not really a end-user product, it's really a reference devboard aimed to "make other motherboards" or to test software compatibility... but it's interesting:
The ARM Juno Devboard: 1x A57(dual core), 1x A53(quad core), GPU MALI T624(quad core,OpenGL|ES3), 8Gb DDR3, PCI-Express, SATA, USB, LAN, Audio:

http://oi61.tinypic.com/2bv2f8.jpg

http://arm.com/products/tools/development-boards/versatile-express/juno-arm-development-platform.php

No idea about its price.